Members of Kansas’ Gay Community aren’t happy as lawmakers in Topeka have decided to leave on the books laws banning homosexuality. The laws banning gay sex have been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, but the law remains in place in Kansas. And an effort to repeal it was killed this week in Topeka, leaving gay and lesbian Kansans outraged. “Good people make bad decisions, and I believe this was a very bad decision,” said Jackie Carter with Metropolitan Community Church. Carter is a leader of the gay and lesbian community in Wichita and the pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church. She says she’s saddened by a move this week in Topeka to leave a law on the books in Kansas that bans gay sex. She says it leaves thousands of gay Kansans under the impression they are unwelcome in the Sunflower State.
Straight NY Teen Killed By Attackers Yelling Anti-Gay Slurs
An 18-year-old high school graduate was beaten and stomped to death at a party in Queens this weekend by four party crashers who were allegedly yelling anti-gay slurs. However, friends testify that victim Anthony Collao had a girlfriend and was not gay. The party was thrown by two gay men, but the four assailants reportedly did not discriminate when it came to picking fights. Suspects Alex Velez, 16, Nolis Ogando, Christopher Lozada and Luis Tabales, all 17, reportedly refused to pay the $7 cover charge to the Woodhaven birthday party on Saturday, and quickly began picking fights, busting windows and scrawling anti-gay slurs on the walls. “They called us homos and all kinds of stuff,” said one man celebrating his 20th birthday. Coallo reportedly fled in his car with a friend, but the suspects followed him and beat him up. Velez reportedly used a pipe, and Collao was on life support until yesterday.
Maryland Gay Marriage Bill Dies with No Final Vote
The speaker of Maryland’s House vowed that Democrats would try again next year to pass legislation legalizing gay marriage, but the intense lobbying by faith groups against the measure in recent weeks shows that it won’t be easy, even in a state known for its liberal politics. A loose coalition of Democratic legislators failed to cobble together enough votes to overcome opposition from Republicans and religious groups, including the Catholic church and many black congregations, to make Maryland the sixth state to legalize gay marriage. Lawmakers had planned to vote on the bill in the House, but it was withdrawn instead Friday and effectively killed for the year. (AP)
10 Countries Now Allow Same-Sex Marriage
A leading rights group says 10 countries have legalized same-sex marriage in the past decade. But Human Rights Watch said in a survey released Monday that bias continues against people who want to marry people of the same gender in those 10 countries and many others. Boris O. Dittrich of the group’s gay rights program says that the growing number of countries legalizing same-sex marriage demonstrates progress in sexual equality around the world. The first same-sex marriages took place in the Netherlands on April 1, 2001. The countries that followed were Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland and Argentina. www.BigGayNews.com
Megachurch Wants Choir to Sign Anti-Gay Covenant
Several choir members at Orange County’s Crystal Cathedral say they’re upset over a document they’ve been asked to sign that takes a strong stand against homosexuality. The “Crystal Cathedral Worship Choir and Worship Team Covenant” recently handed out to members states that they should commit to being Christians by following the Bible in every way, the Orange County Register reported Tuesday. www.BigGayNews.com
US Senate Hearing for Gay Judicial Nominee
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, “shocked” no openly gay men served as federal judges, says gay candidate J. Paul Oetken possesses legal excellence and moderate views. Schumer, D-N.Y., who recommended Oetken to U.S. President Barack Obama to fill a vacated U.S. district judge post, presides over a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Oetken’s nomination Wednesday. If confirmed, Oetken — a former law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun who also worked in the U.S. Justice Department and in the White House counsel’s office during the Clinton administration — could become the first openly gay male to sit on the federal bench.